East Duplin edges SWO for softball tny title

RICHLANDS — East Duplin may not have won its own softball tournament last week during its spring break, but the Panthers did win the one right up the road Wednesday night on its nearby rival’s home field.

RICHLANDS — East Duplin may not have won its own softball tournament last week during its spring break, but the Panthers did win the one right up the road Wednesday night on its nearby rival’s home field.

Led by tournament MVP Makalya Byrd and another strong night at the plate, the Panthers slipped past Southwest 6-4 to capture the Piggly Wiggly Softball Tournament at Richlands High School.

“It was pretty exciting, especially since we didn’t win our own tournament. It feels good to come over here and win this tournament, it really helps us out a lot,” said Byrd, who 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs and a triple against the Monarchs (3-10).

Byrd also picked up her second win of the tournament by going the distance for the Panthers, who are now 10-3 and beat the teams with the best three records other than themselves to earn the title — Richlands (10-3), Swansboro (5-5) and Southwest (10-2).

“I feel great about it. The girls played great,” East Duplin coach Greg Jenkins said. “We had a couple girls really step up. I told the girls tonight they played real well tonight. We limited our errors and we hit the ball when we had to.”

From the start of the season, Jenkins has seemed uncertain how good the Panthers could be this year. Winning this tournament didn’t really change that mindset.

“I’ll be honest with you, I still really don’t what we have,” he said. “Now I think over last week and this week we have really gelled team-wise. We, the coaches, have started to figure stuff out. … Things are starting to come together. We’ve won seven of the last eight.”

East Duplin grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-single by Byrd, but the Stallions countered with two runs in the second thanks to a run-scoring single by Reji Brooks and a ground out by Morgan Cox that brought home Sarah Humphrey.

But the Pirates scored two of their own in the third, highlighted by Byrd’s triple that scored Lauren Williams and Paxton Blizzard’s RBI-double. Byrd was 7-for-9 with 5 RBIs in the three-day tournament while Blizzard was 6-for-9 with 6 RBIs.

“They both hit the ball the whole tournament,” Jenkins said.

But the Stallions tied it in the fifth on Hali Botzenhart’s home run over the Piggly Wiggly sign in centerfield.

“We actually meant for it to be outside, but it was supposed to be a little bit lower than what it was,” Byrd said.

The Panthers, however, took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth with three runs.

With runners at first and second, Anna Craft singled home Lauren Williams with the go-ahead run. Then after Byrd was thrown out at home, Blizzard tripled home Craft and scored herself on Hollie Alston’s bloop single to shallow left field for a 6-3 lead.

Page 2 of 2 - Southwest cut the lead to two in the sixth when Alexis France double to lead off and came around to score on a wild pitch and an infield single by Amberlynn Bishop. The Stallions then threatened in the seventh.

Brooks led off with an infield single, but Jessie Sbrocco popped out to catcher Kendall Lego on her bunt attempt before Botzenhart walked on four straight pitches. After Aaliyah Simmons struck out, France’s grounder hit Brooks as she raced to third for the final out of the game.

“It was nerve-racking, very nerve-racking,” Byrd said. “But we pulled it out.”

Southwest first-year coach Tiffany Murphy said the Stallions hurt themselves with some mistakes that could have led to a different outcome.

“Of course, we wanted to win. I don’t feel like our 100-percent, A-game,” she said. “We had some errors that cost us, and didn’t execute some bunt and little things that we could have made count. I think that would have made a difference.

“But overall from where these girls are coming from I think it’s already been a huge improvement from the past years. They’ve really been working hard, and what I like they don’t fold. Usually you find with a group of girls that when they get down, they’re down.

“But not this group. They fight, and they fight until the very end, and that last inning could have gone either way.”